Jordan Spieth joins Tiger Woods in backing $150M Cobbs Creek Golf Campus project
Tiger Woods is no longer the only professional golfer backing the $150 million restoration and expansion project at the Cobbs Creek Golf Campus in West Philadelphia. Three-time major winner Jordan Spieth has awarded the Cobbs Creek Foundation a $250,000 grant through the Jordan Spieth Family Foundation to construct a junior putting green as part of the project. The grant will provide all the funding for a planned 20,000-square-foot putting green designed to introduce younger players to the game.
“The addition of a junior putting green on the Cobbs Creek Campus will allow us to open even more doors to future players,” said Jeff Shanahan, president of the Cobbs Creek Foundation. The junior putting green will be built outside of the TGR Learning Lab, a year-round educational center for local youth that is currently under construction on the campus. The Learning Lab is being developed through the Cobbs Creek Foundation’s partnership with pro golfer Tiger Woods’ charity the TGR Foundation. Both the educational center and the putting green are expected to be completed in 2025.
The Spieth family said it is hopeful the project will help foster a love for golf among younger players. “Golf is a great vehicle to learn valuable life lessons, as well as receive comprehensive mentorship and support,” Annie Spieth, Jordan’s wife, said in a statement. This is the latest development in the Cobbs Creek Golf Campus project, which has expanded considerably in the past two years. The project also includes restoration of Cobbs Creek’s 18-hole Olde Course and the construction of a new championship nine-hole course. The restored Olde Course is expected to be completed in June 2026. The nine-hole course will open in 2027.
Additionally, Woods’ TGR Design firm will create and develop a short course at Cobbs Creek, which is expected to open in the spring of 2026. Also set to debut on the campus in 2026 will be temperature-controlled double-decker practice bays with food and beverage service and social gathering spaces. A golf retail pro shop, an indoor/outdoor bar, restaurant and community event space, and a driving range that will house the Heritage Center are also part of the renovation project. At the latter, guests will be able to learn about the history of Cobbs Creek.
Cobbs Creek Foundation is also restoring surrounding areas including three miles of Cobbs Creek, Indian Creek and adjacent tributaries. The creek restoration is set to begin in the fall and continue through 2026. It will include new wetlands for long-term sustainability and flood-risk reduction for the campus and the nearby community.
Frequent flooding, along with capital needs and safety concerns, is what partially drove the public golf course to close in 2020. Prior to that, in 2016, the clubhouse at Cobbs Creek was destroyed by a fire.
As new elements have been added, both the timeline and cost have also increased. The original price tag of the transformation project was estimated at around $100 million, a figure which has grown by another $50 million over the past two years. Plans to restore and revitalize the Cobbs Creek Golf Course and create a new education and community center on the site began in 2022 when the Cobbs Creek Foundation entered into a long-term lease agreement with the City of Philadelphia. In March, the Cobbs Creek Foundation hired Scottsdale, Arizona-based Troon to manage operations of the campus.
